Contact with hot objects or substances · Third or fourth degree heat (thermal) burns
At a glance
Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at IFS Industries, Inc., 400 Orrton Avenue, READING, PENNSYLVANIA 19611
on — Third or fourth degree heat (thermal) burns, affecting the wrist(s) and arm(s), n.e.c..
Final narrative
An employee was replacing a temperature gauge on a discharge header from a tank in a hot melt manufacturing building. As he was removing the gauge, hot adhesive discharged from the threaded port piping and caused second- and third-degree burns on the top side of his right arm from the elbow to the wrist.
HospitalizedWrist(s) and arm(s), n.e.c.Adhesives, glues, n.e.c.
An employee using an air nozzle to blow out a grinder sustained a finger amputation when the grinder energized and the shredding wheel pulled the air nozzle and the employee's hand toward the wheel.
An employee connected a steam line to a hose to clean equipment when the fitting broke loose. They were struck by steam in the left inner thigh, resulting in burns that required hospitalization.
An employee was making tea when she noticed tea grinds were collecting on the side and water was no longer dripping through the funnel. The employee was checking the funnel when boiling water and tea grinds spilled onto the left side of her body. The employee sustained burns to her neck, back, and arm.
An employee had turned off the ball valve on a waterpipe system and was removing the plug when the coupling system attached to the strainer came apart. Hot water sprayed on his arm and back, resulting in first- and second-degree burns that required surgery.
An employee was using a shovel to remove waste vermiculite from molten zinc. The metal had been placed in a bin and partially hardened. The employee broke through the partially hardened metal; still-molten metal flowed to the employee's steel-toed right boot and entered through the cloth boot tongue. The employee suffered a third-degree burn to the right foot and was hospitalized.
More severe injuries in this industry (NAICS 325520)
An employee was rolling up sheets of sealant using a rotating mandrel when her right hand was caught in the mandrel. Her right arm was pulled into the roll of material. The employee was hospitalized with three fractures to her right arm.
An employee worked a full shift and later started cramping up due to exposure to heat and high humidity. The employee was hospitalized with heat exhaustion.
At 2:05 p.m., the injured employee was shadowing another operator. They went into the aerosol gashouse as part of training. As they entered, the self-closing overhead door shut while the injured employee's right hand was still on the edge. The employee's little fingertip was caught and partially amputated between the door and the frame.
An employee fell from the top of a fixed ladder, passing through the ladder's access opening and landing on the floor about 6-7 feet below. He suffered nine broken ribs (four on the left side and five on the right), as well as a punctured lung. He was hospitalized.
On April 8, 2025, an employee was unjamming a conveyor belt. It reactivated, and his right little finger was caught between the belt and a conveyor roller. He suffered a partial amputation of the fingertip.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.